Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to rise in the House and pay my respects to elders in our communities. I say this because on Monday, we buried one of our elders in Fort Simpson, Albert Horesay. He was 83 years old. He was a very much respected elder in our community. He has a large family and there are many people who came from very far to attend this man's funeral.

I just wanted to say that our elders are a treasure to us. They hold history for our people in the north. They also hold our languages. As we lose our elders, we also lose a little bit of our history and tradition. As a Dene person, everything is oral: our language; our history; our stories; and, our legends. I know the government has provided some funding programs to try to get people in communities to capture some of our oral history and legends. However, as each of our elders passes on, we lose a little bit more. For that, I just wanted to say that we have to do more to try to retain our culture and our language.

In Fort Simpson, I was pleased to find out that the band, through the resource management group, are trying to recapture a lot of the oral history and traditional knowledge that exists there. In all the other communities, there is a lot of knowledge about the land, the history and how the north has evolved from the perspective of the Dene. I would just like to say that it is a little bit that the government is doing to help the people and I really appreciate that.

(Translation) One of our elders has died. Many people went there and prayed for him. We depend on them. We have to try to preserve our languages and our traditional way of living. Mr. Speaker, the time has run out for me.